Presidential Election 2009

Bucharest Life 2009

by Craig Turp January 4, 2010 Bucharest

 A week or so late, here is Bucharest Life’s Review of the Year that was 2009. January A new government, led by Traian Basescu and Little Emil Boc, installed following parliamentary elections at the end of 2008, introduces, amongst other moves of sheer political genius, a compulsory profit tax for small companies (even those that [...]

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Don’t vote if you don’t want to

by Craig Turp November 19, 2009 Bucharest

 Romanians go to the polls on Sunday in the first round of voting in the country’s presidential election. That much you probably know. You probably also know that just three of the candidates have any chance of making the second round a fortnight later. They are: current president Traian Basescu; PSD leader Mircea Geoana; and [...]

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The Week in Bucharest: September 18

by Craig Turp September 18, 2009 Bucharest

A weekly digest of news, business and sport from Bucharest and around Romania

Basescu defends record before parliament

Traian Basescu, Romania’s president, defended his record in office on Wednesday in front of a generally supine parliament. Representatives of the main opposition parties left well before the close of Basescu’s speech.

Basescu said his main achievement had been to oversee ‘unprecedented economic growth,’ and was quick to praise the current government of Emil Boc, a member of Basescu’s Democratic Liberal Party (PDL).

Basescu heavily criticised the government of Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, with which he uncomfortably cohabited for the first four years of his term.

Read the full Week in Bucharest here..

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Vote now: Which Elena is Traian Basescu’s greatest achievement?

by Craig Turp September 16, 2009 Bucharest

 Traian Basescu, Romania’s president, appeared before the country’s parliament yesterday to defend his record in office, and to list his substantial number of outstanding achievements. Amongst a number of moot points, Basescu claimed that ‘nobody can deny Romania has moved forward these past five years,’ and that ‘economic growth had been incredible.’ Both true, of [...]

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Desperate dictator goes shopping. Again

by Craig Turp June 24, 2009 Romanian Politics

 Increasingly desperate to prove that he is a ‘man of the people,’ Romanian president Traian Basescu yesterday went shopping at Carrefour, in a carefully planned and stage-managed attempt to boost his flailing poll ratings, badly affected by the election – which his party arranged – of his daughter Elena to the European Parliament. Perfectly timed [...]

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Dambovita Centre and the politics of Gica Contra

by Craig Turp March 31, 2009 Bucharest

 First, the good news. Bucharest city council yesterday approved the construction of the Dambovita Centre, a project that will replace with Well, so they say anyway. Much depends on whether the developer runs out of money we guess. Anyway, we have written about the project before and do not want to bore you for too long. So [...]

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CTP for President

by Craig Turp March 16, 2009 Media

 Cristian Tudor Popescu (journalist, commentator, editor, analyst: choose your own moniker) denies in an interview with Evenimentul Zilei this morning that he intends running for president. (Romanians go to the polls in December and are expected to elect Traian Basescu again, by a big margin). That’s a shame. While Popescu may not be the ideal [...]

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